"Can I Borrow You as My Daddy... Just for One Day?" the Maid's Toddler Asked the Mafia Boss.

The estate was in lockdown. Every member of the staff, every guard, and every caterer was rounded up and held in the massive underground garage.

Upstairs in the master suite, Elena paced the floor, her hands resting protectively over her pregnant belly. Mia was asleep in the adjoining room, blissfully unaware of how close she had come to death, guarded by three of Damiano’s most elite men.

Down in the basement, the air was thick with the smell of sweat and fear. Damiano was interrogating the chef, but it was useless. The chef was in tears, swearing on his mother’s life that he had baked the cake himself and left it on the counter for only two minutes.

That meant it was an inside job. Someone in the house had slipped the poison into the frosting.

Elena couldn't wait in the bedroom anymore. The instinct to protect her family roared to life inside her. She marched down the stairs, ignoring the protests of the guards, and pushed open the heavy metal door to the basement.

Damiano stood over the chef, his knuckles bloody, breathing heavily. He looked up, shocked to see his pregnant wife entering the interrogation room.

"Elena, get out of here," Damiano commanded sharply. "This is no place for you."

"Someone tried to kill my daughter, Damiano," Elena stated, her voice eerily calm, devoid of any fear. She didn't look like a maid anymore; she looked like a Mafia Queen. She walked past her husband and looked at the terrified chef.

"Who was in the kitchen, Marco?" Elena asked softly.

"No one, Donna Elena! I swear to God!" Marco sobbed. "Only the new girl... Sophia. She was cleaning the counters."

Elena froze. Sophia. A quiet, timid girl who had been hired three weeks ago to help with the laundry. Elena had personally approved her hiring because the girl claimed to have a sick mother to care for.

"Bring me Sophia," Elena ordered the guards.

Damiano watched his wife in awe. The trembling woman he had met months ago was gone, replaced by a fierce, protective lioness.

When they dragged Sophia into the room, the young girl was trembling like a leaf. She fell to her knees before Elena. "Please! I didn't mean to! They took my brother! They said if I didn't put the vial in the cake, they would kill him!"

Elena looked down at the girl. A year ago, she would have felt pity. She would have shown mercy. But today, she thought of Mia, holding that fork, inches away from death.

"Who gave you the vial, Sophia?" Elena asked, her voice cold as steel.

"Don Colombo!" the girl cried out. "He met me at the market! Please, Donna Elena, have mercy!"

Elena stared at her for a long moment. Then, she turned to Damiano.

"She is a victim of circumstance, but she is still a traitor," Elena said, her voice completely steady. "Send her away. Put her on a train out of the state. If she ever returns, she dies."

She walked over to her husband, grabbing the lapels of his ruined shirt, pulling him down to her eye level. "Colombo tried to murder our child, Damiano. He brought death into our home."